“They do. And while they are not releasing any names yet, they want the public to rest assured that they are interviewing the suspects and doing everything they can to bring them to justice.”
Interviewing the suspects.Phoebe felt herself grow cold. It wasn’t possible that the ‘urgent business’ her husband had spoken of was a summons to be interviewed by the Bow Street Runners… was it?
No, she was sure she was being very paranoid and foolish. Still, she had to force herself to concentrate on what her friends said next.
“Personally, I believe the Bow Street Runners should leave the Vigilantes alone and let them carry out their justice. They do more than the Bow Street Runners ever have to keep ladies safe!”
“How can you say that, Phoebe?” Lady Selina asked, her eyes widening. “We cannot have vigilantes working outside of the law. It would be utter chaos!”
“Perhaps chaos is exactly what thetonneeds,” Phoebe argued, winking at Vanessa. “Perhaps this world we are part of has become a little too comfortable and we could all use mixing things up.”
Lady Selina shook her head. “I do not believe you mean it.”
Phoebe sighed. “Perhaps I do not. But I do feel better knowing that the Vigilantes are out there. It reassures me to know that when I marry, my husband would be afraid to harm me in case he were to bring upon himself the wrath of the Vigilantes of Virtue.”
“When you marry?” Vanessa asked, interested. “Is there someone courting you then?”
“No,” Phoebe said, and Vanessa was surprised to see a flash or worry—or was it disappointment?—in her eyes. She wondered what that was all about. “But I am sure that I will find a husband by the end of the Season.”
“I did not realize that you were so eager to marry this Season,” Vanessa observed. “For some reason I just assumed…” she trailed off, blushing.
“What?” Phoebe asked, her eyes sparkling. “You assumed I did not want to marry?”
“I just assumed that the cousin of a duke would have more freedom than most young ladies to delay entering into the marriage mart.”
“I enjoy the marriage mart,” Phoebe said with a laugh. “And I very much hope to marry and have a family. I am eager for the wedded bliss that you and the Duke no doubt share.” She winked again, and although Vanessa blushed again, she also had a feeling that Phoebe was not saying everything—as if there was more to her eagerness to marry than she was letting on. But she didn’t press it.
“It is Lady Selina here who is uninterested in marriage,” Phoebe pointed out. “And her parents are not putting any pressure on her to marry which is even more unbelievable.”
“You do not wish to marry?” Vanessa asked Lady Selina, looking her up and down in curiosity. Lady Selina was very pretty with slick black hair, dark eyes and eyebrows, a wide mouth, and an elegant figure. She was tall, and perhaps some gentlemen did not like that, but she was striking to look at. If Vanessa were a painter, she would want to paint Lady Selina.
“I suppose I would if it were under the right circumstances,” Lady Selina said with a shrug, “but I do not anticipate that happening. My parents had a love match and are still deeply in love. Witnessing the joy of their union, compared to most of the loveless, politically and financially strategic marriages of theton,I find that I am uninterested in anything that does not live up to what my parents have. And my life is already so rich in love from my friends and family that I do not really see the point.”
“That is very modern of you,” Vanessa said, impressed. She had never even thought of marriage as an option. Her parents had impressed upon her from the very beginning that she would marry and marry well. There had been no other choice.
“We are modern women,” Lady Selina declared, a hint of pride in her voice. “All of us. We can forge our own destinies as much as we can. Look at you and how you married the Duke instead of that dreadful Lord Langdon. You found a solution to your problem, and you took it. I think that is very admirable.”
“Thank you,” Vanessa murmured. Although most of the credit went to the Duke for saving her, she was proud of herself for saying yes to this mad adventure rather than just allowing her parents and Langdon to get their way because it was “easier” and otherwise she would bedisappointingpeople.
The ladies were being so kind and so forthright with their emotions that Vanessa suddenly wondered if she might be more open with her new friends. Usually, she believed one had to have several outings with someone to consider them a true friend, but wasn’t it true that these ladies had already helped save her fromLord Langdon? That had been their first outing! And this was their second.
Perhaps shecouldtrust them.
“Actually, there is something I wish to discuss with both of you,” she said abruptly. “Something of a more… intimate nature.” She blushed again, but she was excited to see that neither woman looked scandalized nor offended. Both gave her interested, curious looks, and Phoebe even reached out and took her hand.
“Are you all right?” she asked, peering into her eyes.
“Oh, yes, quite,” Vanessa rushed to say. “It is just that I have been experiencing such strange emotions of late that puzzle me exceedingly.”
And she explained to them everything that had happened over her honeymoon, leaving out the more private details about the Duke’s sister. But she did tell them how he had not insisted upon a traditional marriage, but as they got to know one another better—and shared a bed at the inn—she was beginning to feel things stirring inside of her.
“What kinds of things?” Phoebe asked, her face alight with excitement. “Do you want the Duke to kiss you?”
“I—” Vanessa’s cheeks heated, and half of her wanted to hide away in shame while the other half of her wanted to respond with a resounding yes. Plucking up her courage, she said, “I havethought about it. And what it would be like for him to look at me in the way men are supposed to look at their wives: tenderly, reverently, even with affection.”
Phoebe beamed. “Of course, you want that! And I would not be surprised if he felt that way about you! Look at you—you are so beautiful and sweet and innocent!”
“I do not know if ‘sweet and innocent’ goes well with him,” Vanessa said doubtfully. “He has seen so much evil in the world that I am sure that he finds me hopelessly naive compared to him.”
